Away from prying eyes Intimate moments
by littlemissraindrop
Summary: What really happened between Ron and Hermione in the Chamber of Secrets and how did they handle their changing relationship after the war? DH spoilers alert! RHr pairing


Away from prying eyes 

Fluff for the fans that, like me feel that they were robbed of it in the seventh book.

Disclaimer: I still don't own Harry Potter or any of the character : (

There are two scenes from my own imagination and a short quote from the book, all JK of course!

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What actually happened between Ron and Hermione in the Chamber of Secrets? Missing scene during the Deathly Hallows, plus scene in the book and what happened after the battle. 

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'The Chamber'

'What?' Hermione asked, confused. She did not turn her head towards Ron as Harry was giving the briefing to the gathering of witches and wizards in the Room of Requirements. She was intent on understanding what the plan was before committing herself to what Ron had to say.

'The Chamber,' Ron repeated urgently, 'The Chamber of Secrets!'

Hermione was now getting slightly irritated by Ron's irrelevant interruptions, 'Yes,' she hissed, 'what about it?'

'Basilisk's venom!' Ron was now getting extremely excited by his revelation, 'It'll be on the fangs of the Basilisk…'

'… in the Chamber of Secrets!' Hermione finished as she realised, turning her head towards Ron so quickly that she almost gave herself whiplash, 'Ron, you're a genius!' she whispered.

'Why thank you,' Ron replied, giving a winning smile, 'not as stupid as I look am I?'

Hermione scowled at him briefly, 'this is not the time to be fishing for compliments, I've already given you one, take it or leave it.'

Ron gave a look of mock disappointment then, like a child impatient for something important, he said, 'come on,' and grasping her round the wrist he pulled her towards the exit just as the rest of the crowd began to move, grabbing a broomstick from the corner of the room as he went.

Reaching the corridor onto which the room of requirements lead, Ron and Hermione gained their bearings and began to run hand in hand down the long corridors towards the girls' bathrooms where the entrance to the Chamber could be found.

Reaching the bathrooms, they both stopped and doubled over, out of breath. Neither realised that they were still holding hands until Ron needed to open the entrance to the Chamber. Awkwardly, they released themselves from each other's grasp and tried to act naturally as they began to figure out a strategy.

Embarrassed by the realisation that they had been holding hands, Ron turned away and rubbed his neck in deep thought whilst Hermione looked at her shoes.

Still unable to look Ron in the eye, Hermione kept her gaze firmly on the floor as she asked, 'so how are we to get in?'

'Parcel tongue,' Ron replied matter-of-factly as if it explained everything.

Hermione looked up and caught his eye then stared at him quizzically, 'you don't speak parcel tongue!'

'No, but Harry does.' And with no more explanation, Ron turned to the sign of the snake and hissed at it.

Nothing happened.

He hissed at it again, this time with a slight change in accent.

Still nothing happened; looking at Hermione he received a mocking grin as if to say _I told you so._

Irritated by this, Ron returned to the symbol and decided to try one last time. Making a final, encouraging hissing sound, the snake reacted opening up the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets.

Triumphant, Ron turned back to Hermione giving a smug grin. Hermione was standing there with her mouth open in amazement, 'how… what… how did you…' unable to express what she wanted to say.

'Copied Harry, used the same hissing as he used for the locket,' Ron shoved his hands into his pockets and shrugged.

His explanation was returned by a look of admiration, 'Ron Weasley, you really are something else!'

Grinning widely again, Ron indicated towards the entrance with a flourish of his right hand, 'ladies first.' Expecting to be thoroughly rebuffed, he was surprised when Hermione stepped in front of him with no argument.

'Why, thank you,' and she jumped down into the Chamber like Alice down the rabbit hole.

'She's a braver person than me,' muttered Ron, 'damn your unadventurous personality Ron! She'll never love someone like you!'

'Are you coming?' An impatient echo broke his thoughts.

He jumped down into the Chamber and landed at Hermione's feet. Looking up, he saw her standing there with her arms folded in irritation, tapping her left foot on the ground littered with shed skin and bones, 'took your time.'

'Sorry,' Ron groaned, getting up he rubbed his scraped arm and tried to fix the crick in his neck which he had obtained in the last few minutes.

'So where's this Basilisk then?' asked Hermione.

'Probably at the end of the Chamber still,' Ron replied, leading the way towards where Harry had headed in his second year, 'I doubt anyone's been down here since we did.'

'Can't really blame them, can you?' Hermione said as she pulled herself over a large tailbone and almost tripped, covering her hands in moss and mud as she steadied herself against the walls of the tunnel.

On hearing her stumble Ron, who had been walking three paces ahead of her, turned around and walked towards her. He automatically placed both arms around her waist in an attempt to steady her. Blushing slightly, Hermione shook him off her after quickly finding her footing.

All they could do was continue on in silence until they reached the end of the tunnel, slightly shaken and unnerved by the fact that these little, intimate moments had kept occurring between the two of them.

The silence was broken, however, when both gasped as they reached the long stretch of open plan corridor leading to a large stone carving. There at the end of the corridor was the lifeless body of the slain Basilisk.

Instinctively, Hermione grasped at Ron's arm, 'is it definitely dead?'

'I think so,' replied Ron, cautiously. In the few seconds that they stood there, there was a realisation of what Hermione had done which she immediately tried to brush aside by pretending to knock some dust of the shoulder of his jacket.

In unison, they stepped forward and broke into a run towards the Basilisk, knowing that time was of the essence if they were to help Harry. Reaching it there was evidence that some of the teeth had already fallen out due to the rough impact with the floor that it had sustained five years earlier.

Immediately, Hermione ran and began to grasp at the teeth. Dropping to the floor she gathered an armful of venom-covered fangs.

Ron stood there for a moment, the frantic grabbing of the fangs showed him that she was beginning to lose control; her long brown hair fell across her face and goose bumps were forming on her shoulders. Coming to his sense he went to help her just as she was getting up, all of the teeth collected. She quickly thrust half of them into his arms.

As she turned away to make her way back to the entrance, Ron grabbed her wrist lightly pulling her back to stand in front of her. She looked up into his eyes reluctantly; he saw a flash of fear and apprehension in her brown eyes, 'I'm afraid,' he whispered.

'Me too,' she breathed, 'what if one of us dies?'

'Don't talk like that,' Ron urged, leaning inwards so that they were even closer together.

'We have to, what happens? I couldn't stand it if I lost Harry… or… or…'

'Or what?' Ron encouraged, he took a step forward, pleading that she would say what had been inside his mind for at least the past three years.

Their eyes were fixed directly on each other now, nothing around them mattered, 'you.'

'Hermione, I…'

'Don't say it.'

'What?' Ron said, quite surprised at this response.

Hermione turned her face away, 'just don't, this isn't the time.'

'There may not be another time, you said it yourself.'

'I know.'

For a moment they just stood there, Ron closed him eyes and tried to get past the fact that there may never be another time to tell her that he loved her. Hermione just stood, feeling the warmth of his breath on her face, wondering why she hadn't let him continue.

Once both had got past the situation, Ron said, 'we'd better get back, Harry'll be looking for us.' Hermione could hear the strain in his voice as he tried his best to get the words out. Mustering her strength she replied in a cheery voice, 'yes, we'd better.'

It was understood, thought Ron at that moment, that for Hermione the last few minutes had never happened. This was why, a moment later after an uncomfortable broom ride back to the entrance, they were both reappearing in the hallway to meet Harry as if nothing had ever happened.

Both wanted something to happen and neither could make sense of why nothing did, but they both brushed it aside to get on with the job in hand.

This was, of course, until Ron gained Hermione's affections through his sudden interest in the welfare of the house elves and Hermione finally saw sense that there may not be another time for it.

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"_**Hang on a moment!" said Ron sharply. "We've forgotten someone!"**_

"_**Who?" asked Hermione.**_

"_**The house-elves, they'll all be down in the kitchen, won't they?"**_

"_**You mean we ought to get them fighting?" asked Harry.**_

"_**No," said Ron seriously, "I mean we should tell them to get out. We don't want any more Dobbies, do we? We can't order them to die for us—"**_

_**There was a clatter as the basilisk fangs cascaded out of Hermione's arms. Running at Ron, she flung them around his neck and kissed him full on the mouth.**_

_**Ron threw away the fangs and broomstick he was holding and responded with such enthusiasm that he lifted Hermione off her feet.**_

"_**Is this the moment?" Harry asked weakly, and when nothing happened except that Ron and Hermione gripped each other still more firmly and swayed on the spot, he raised his voice: "OI! There's a war going on here!"**_

"_**I know, mate," said Ron, who looked as though he had recently been hit on the back of the head with a Bludger, "so it's now or never, isn't it?"**_

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It had been three days since the war had ended and neither Ron nor Hermione had spoken of the kiss that had occurred between the two of them. Both Harry and Hermione had tried, and failed, to connect with Ron through his grief over losing Fred.

It was only when Hermione was taking a stroll around the grounds in the late afternoon that she managed to corner Ron. He seemed to be lying on the ground underneath a large oak tree, his eyes were closed and he seemed to be in his own world.

Hermione quietly wandered over to where he lay and silently prostrated herself on the ground next to him, closing her eyes. She knew that he was grieving but she just wanted him to know that she was there if he needed her.

Ron could feel her presence and it comforted him. For the past few days he had felt that being alone would help with his grief, but at that moment he felt secure as she lay there. It was nice to just have someone there, even if he didn't want to talk.

There were so many things running through his mind and they confused him. Why had Fred had to die? Why was life so difficult? Why did Voldemort have to exist? There was one thing that stayed constant though, did the kiss between him and Hermione mean anything or was it just the prospect of one of them dying?

He didn't want to ask, didn't want to break the spell. He didn't want his fears confirmed, the fear that maybe Hermione hadn't really felt the same way as he had.

Yet, Hermione hadn't said anything. She hadn't addressed it in three days, maybe it wasn't meant to be and it was just a spur of the moment thing.

'Hermione?'

Hermione opened her eyes, 'yes, Ron?'

'I feel… I feel so confused, so angry.'

Turning her head towards him, she could see tear marks glistening on his face, 'I know, we've lost so many friends, so many loved ones.'

'I feel so alone.'

At this Hermione sat bolt upright and looked down on him, 'Ronald Weasley,' she said, 'you are never alone, you have your family, your parents love you. George, Ginny, Percy, Bill, Charlie… and you have your friends, you have Harry and… and…'

Ron opened his eyes to look up at her.

Hermione stammered for a moment, a tear rolled down her cheek, '… and me. Ron, you will always have me.'

A new trail of tears glimmered on Ron's cheeks now. He sat up and looked her in the eye, 'do you really mean that?' He wished, hoped, implored that she did.

Hermione was now crying; finding it difficult to get the words out, 'yes, yes I do!' she choked.

A grin spread rapidly across Ron's face and he reached out a hand to he cheek, this time it was his turn to make the first move. Leaning in he kissed her firmly and lovingly on the mouth. Their tears mingled and both felt a rush of love and belonging pulsing through their veins.

Before the kiss could deepen however, Hermione pulled away and said sternly, 'but you're not changing me.'

'Not even a little bit?' Ron said in mock disappointment.

'No! And I'm not becoming more fun, and I'm not on your side against Harry and Ginny and…'

'Oh, shut up Hermione,' Ron laughed and kissed her again, partly just to stop her from talking but partly because he just felt sublimely happy and all his fears and grieving seemed to melt away, even if only for that moment.

Five years of stored-up passion that they weren't able to express when they had first kissed came rushing to them.

At that moment they were the only people in the world. Nothing else around them mattered.

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Sorry about the abrupt ending, really didn't know how to finish it so I'll leave it to your imaginations.

Thank you for reading

Reviews are welcomed with open arms!

Little miss raindrop

xxx


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